Forming
the Government

The Labour and Progressive Coalition Parties in Parliament have agreed
that Labour will lead the broad policy programme, but will recognise
Progressive’s priorities of employment, support for low income
families, health and education, and its wish to make progress on assisting
industry, protecting and educating young people regarding drug use,
and promoting a better balance of work and family responsibilities.

The Coalition Government has also entered into agreements with the United
Future and Green Parliamentary Caucuses. United Future agreed to provide
confidence and supply; that is, they vote with the Government on crucial
votes, including votes regarding spending. In return, the Government
agreed to take account of United Future’s priorities, with specific
agreements regarding proposals for a Commission for the Family, victim’s
rights, new transport legislation and no government legislation on cannabis.
The Greens have not agreed to provide confidence and supply, but they
have agreed to co-operate on a range of policy and legislative matters.
Both agreements include clauses about consultation on a range of levels.

The New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust

The New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust was formed in 1991 to
bridge an apparent gap in understanding between MPs and business people.
It adopted
as its main objectives:

to enable MPs to widen their experience in, and increase their
knowledge of, business; and

to improve business managers’ understanding of how Parliament
works.

The Trust is an educational charity, not a lobbying organisation. It
is non-partisan, and not connected with any other body. The main activities
of the Trust involve two study schemes:

The Business Study Programme is designed to provide MPs with
an intensive one-to-one introduction to a business organisation, an
overview of key business functions, and to encourage their understanding
of the
contribution business makes to the economy.

The Parliamentary Study Programme provides business people with
an opportunity to study the Parliamentary system and learn how government
is exercised through Parliament

Composition of Parliament

New Zealand’s Parliament is a place where more and more sections
of society can have their voices heard.

As a result of the 2002 election 19 MPs or 16% of the Parliament were
Māori – the same proportion as in the New Zealand population.
In 1980 there were just five Māori in Parliament.

The 1999 election produced 36 women MPs – 34 women were elected
in 2002 comprising 28% of all MPs. The New Zealand Parliament now has
three MPs with Pacific backgrounds, one Chinese and one Indian. It is
only in the last decade that these groups have had representation in Parliament.

In 2002, 23 MPs previous occupations were business – 19%. Teaching
is the second most common previous occupation – 18%. Earlier, farming
was the most common previous occupation of MPs. In 2002, 10% of MPs were
lawyers, 8% were farmers, 8% were trade unionists, and 8% were managers/administrators.

Parliament has also become more representative in another way. It
now gives voice to a wider range of opinion than it did a decade
ago. Seven
parties gained seats in the 1999 and 2002 election. As recently
as 1987 there were only two. While that made things a lot simpler,
it
meant
that many New Zealanders felt left out.

Our House contains our representatives. They are there so our
voices may be heard. In 1997, Speaker Doug Kidd said, “In a democracy such
as ours, we rely on its citizens to be critical, involved, and energetic
in defending their rights and meeting their obligations.”

Parliament will not work as it should unless we help it to do
so. MPs need our help to get things right, and to tell them
when they
get things
wrong!